A survey of psychological practitioner workplace wellbeing

Abstract

<jats:p>The well‐being of the psychological workforce is an area of concern. However, it has been sparsely studied in a holistic manner encompassing workplace well‐being as well as burnout. This study reports a survey of 1,678 psychological practitioners accessed through professional networks. The short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well‐being Scale (SWEMWBS) and the Psychological Practitioner Workplace Well‐being Measure (PPWWM) were administered with a demographic questionnaire. The mean for the SWEMWBS was below that of a national population survey. The intercorrelation of these tests was .61. Subgroup analyses showed significant differences: assistant psychologists, counsellors and psychological well‐being practitioners demonstrated better than average workplace well‐being. But for general well‐being (SWEMWBS), trainee clinical psychologists and assistant psychologists showed lower than average well‐being, whereas psychological well‐being practitioners were higher than average. Other factors associated with well‐being were contract type—both measures (higher workplace well‐being in those with temporary contracts and the self‐employed); employment sector—for PPWWM only (private organisation/independent workers and third sector/charitable organisation workers scored above the PPWWM mean); ethnicity—for both measures (Asian groups except Chinese had higher well‐being than average for the PPWWM and SWEMWBS) and disability was strongly associated with lower well‐being on both measures. Harassment, feeling depressed or a failure and wanting to leave the National Health Service (NHS) were associated with lower well‐being. Greater age, pay and years of service were <jats:italic>negatively</jats:italic> correlated with well‐being. A five‐factor structure was obtained with this sample. The results confirmed psychological practitioners as an at‐risk group and identified a number of factors associated with workplace well‐being.</jats:p>